"...the subject which will be of most importance politically is Mass Psychology. ... The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. ... As yet there is only one country which has succeeded in creating this politician’s paradise.” - Bertrand Russell, The Impact of Science on Society, 1960.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

McCain: I’ll Make Health Care As Deregulated As Banking

It seems that before John McCain became the Scourge of Wall Street (i.e., all times before September 18, 2008 or so) he was such an enthusiast about financial market deregulation that he was bragging about his plan to make the health care system as awesome as the financial system. Here’s what he wrote this month:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

Times change, I guess. On the merits, eliminating the “burdens” and “excesses” of regulation in the health care context means, in practice, that McCain would reduce health insurance costs by reduce the scope of health insurance coverage. And, yes, obviously a policy that covers less stuff will cost less. But that’s not a real plan to help anyone.

OK, a correspondent directs me to John McCain’s article, "Better Health Care at Lower Cost for Every American," in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries. You might want to be seated before reading this.

Here’s what McCain has to say about the wonders of market-based health reform:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

So McCain, who now poses as the scourge of Wall Street, was praising financial deregulation like 10 seconds ago — and promising that if we marketize health care, it will perform as well as the financial industry!